BY BETH LANDMAN KEIL AND DEBORAH MITCHELL

First Sinead O’Connor became a woman of the cloth. Now another Gaelic rock star is bringing the Bible to the masses.

In a partnership that practically defines the term creative synergy, U2 front man Bono will write an introduction to the Book of Psalms in a new paperback edition of the King James Bible due out November 1 — All Saints Day — from Grove/Atlantic. The edition, which assistant editor Brendan Cahill modestly calls “the most radical repackaging of the Bible since Gutenberg,” will also include authors E. L. Doctorow on Genesis and Thomas Cahill on Luke.

The Psalms introduction features Bono revealing (in his elliptical stream-of-consciousness style) the spirituality that has fueled religious-themed U2 songs like “40.” Specifically, Bono describes a lifelong obsession with Psalm writer (and proto-rocker) King David: “At age 12 I was a fan of David, he felt familiar . . . like a pop star could feel familiar. The words of the psalms were as poetic as they were religious and he was a star . . . the Elvis of the Bible, if we can believe the chiseling of Michelangelo (I still can’t figure out this most famous Jew’s foreskin).”

Mysterious ways, indeed. What’s next — The Edge on the Koran?

© 1999 New York magazine. All rights reserved.

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